This is a topic that I find very interesting and useful, especially for people who want to share their wireless internet connection with others in a secure and convenient way.
A hotspot login page, also known as a captive portal, is a web page that users have to authenticate through before they can access the internet. It is commonly used by hotels, cafes, airports, and other public places that offer free or paid Wi-Fi services. A hotspot login page can also be used for personal purposes, such as controlling who can use your Wi-Fi network, collecting user data, or displaying advertisements.
There are many ways to create a hotspot login page on Linux, but one of the most popular and powerful methods is using CoovaChilli. CoovaChilli is an open-source software that provides a complete solution for hotspot management, including authentication, authorization, accounting, billing, and web content filtering. CoovaChilli works with any wireless device that supports Access Point mode and can be integrated with various backend systems such as RADIUS, LDAP, SQL, or NoSQL databases.
To install and configure CoovaChilli on Linux, you will need some prerequisites, such as libnl3-devel, libtalloc-devel, iptables, hostapd, freeradius, MySQL, and haserl. You will also need to create a virtual interface on your wireless device using the iw command and set up a DHCP service to provide IP addresses and configurations for the clients using udhcpd. The detailed steps for each of these tasks can be found in this tutorial.
Another method to create a hotspot login page on Linux is using linux-wifi-hotspot. This is a simpler and easier alternative to CoovaChilli that does not require any additional software or configuration. Linux-wifi-hotspot is a graphical user interface (GUI) program that allows you to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on Linux with just a few clicks. It also supports WPA/WPA2 encryption and custom HTML pages for the captive portal.
To install and use linux-wifi-hotspot on Linux, you will need to download the appropriate package for your distribution from its website and install it using your package manager. Then you can launch the program from your applications menu and follow the instructions on the screen to set up your hotspot name, password, network interface, and captive portal page. You can also change the advanced settings such as IP range, DNS servers, and firewall rules if you want.
Both CoovaChilli and linux-wifi-hotspot are effective ways to create a hotspot login page on Linux, but they have different advantages and disadvantages. CoovaChilli is more flexible and powerful, but also more complex and requires more technical skills. Linux-wifi-hotspot is more user-friendly and straightforward, but also more limited and less customizable. Depending on your needs and preferences, you can choose the one that suits you best.
I hope this was helpful and informative for you. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to ask me. I’m always happy to help 😊.